The Life You’ve Always Longed For

Hilda, my beautiful sweetheart, would read through a few select devotional booklets every morning, one of which was the “Anchor Devotionals.” I was reading some of an Anchor Devotional this morning dated October of 2022. These are great little booklets, with different monthly themes, Bible verses and encouragement for our daily journey through life with Jesus.

Charles Morris, President of Anchor Ministries, begins this booklet with the gripping title, “The Life You Never Wanted.” That really got my attention, and made me want to continue reading. Since Hilda joined Jesus, sooner than I anticipated, these words caused me to think about my life. Is it what I wanted? As we sit here and read these words, it may cause you to pause and consider, “Am I living the life I have always wanted?”

Laurel Goodwin, throughout this issue of Anchor, shares with us that the world offers us: “Your Best Life Now”; “Healthy Habits For LIfe”; and “The Life You’ve Always Wanted.” These make great book titles which sell. But, if we are honest, we find out the hard way as we live our lives, that success and the perfect life cannot be delivered by this world which is passing away.

Consider the world’s richest, most famous, most successful people who are promoted by social media. Are they content, joyful, and at peace? Those who live by the values of this world, usually live short lives without focusing on what really matters – preparing for eternity. There is more to life than what we see in this world.

Success as defined by this world does not satisfy

1 John 2:15-17 tells us…

“15 Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love these things you show that you do not really love God;

16 for all these worldly things, these evil desires—the craze for sex, the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you, and the pride that comes from wealth and importance—these are not from God. They are from this evil world itself.

17 And this world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever.”

Lord God, don’t let any of us get side-tracked by the love of this world. Help us stay on the road we should be on, that leads to eternal life. When our life is lived for Christ, with His Holy Spirit inside us, it will bring us Your eternal rewards. It will produce Your good spiritual fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We want to allow Your Spirit’s fruit to continually grow in us. When we do, that will bless others around us, and bring glory to God our Father.

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” (Philippians 1:6 NLT)

When tragedy strikes, which it does; when things don’t turn out, despite our best efforts, we have an “Anchor. His name is JESUS!” Our real “Treasure” is “JESUS”. He is the Treasure found in the Word of God, The Bible. He will never leave us, and He will someday bring us to Heaven – to enjoy Eternal Life – life with Jesus and His family, which our soul has always longed for. For me, it’s beyond exciting to anticipate reunion with Hilda. 🙂

Your friend,
Harold

P.S. Anchor devotionals are shared by a different Christian author each month. This issue’s author is Laurel Goodwin. You can read these devotionals online at www.anchordevotional.org

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